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Re: BBC Panorama Whorlton Hall

We are committed to openness and transparency. The board conducts as much of its business as possible in a session that the public are welcome to attend and observe. To protect confidentiality some business is discussed in a private session.

The agenda and meeting papers are available on this page a few days before each meeting.

You can also watch recordings of the meetings on this website.

Re: BBC Panorama Whorlton Hall

Posted: Mon May 27, 2019 9:45 am

by Pet66

No BB I haven't heard of public board meetings!!

Re: BBC Panorama Whorlton Hall

Posted: Mon May 27, 2019 9:54 am

by bowlingbun

The next one is in Bristol, otherwise Buckingham Palace Road.
Only one member of the public mentioned as having written a letter, but couldn't attend, so written reply sent.

I'm tempted to suggest a mass invasion at the next meeting, but wouldn't be able to attend easily myself, and that probably applies to most of the families concerned. Divide and Conquer?

Re: BBC Panorama Whorlton Hall

Posted: Mon May 27, 2019 10:04 am

by Chris From The Gulag

Time to unfurl those trusty old Greenham Common banners , ladies ?

Polish up those old welly boots ?

( Two female members of my local Astronomy Society were there ... both now sadly have departed this existence. )

Perhaps a few old Miners' ones to add to the spectacle ... plenty available on my manor.

( Common link ... both went far beyond the initial issue ! )

A sense of being part of something that transcended traditional values ... and politics ?

Even if , at the time , you had no idea of just why you were there ?

Fitting heirlooms to pass down the generations.

Re: BBC Panorama Whorlton Hall

Posted: Fri May 31, 2019 8:53 am

by Chris From The Gulag

The Guardian view on the abuse of learning-disabled people : duties of care.

Undercover filming and a trio of reports show that the lessons of the Winterbourne View scandal have not yet been learned.

The publication in quick succession of three reports, combined with last week’s BBC Panorama programme showing patients at Whorlton Hall hospital being abused by staff, have shed much-needed light on the mistreatment of learning-disabled people. Eight years after a reporter went undercover at a similar hospital, Winterbourne View, the scenes appearing to show vulnerable adults being bullied and threatened were all the more appalling for being familiar.

The emergence over the weekend of a whistleblower, former Care Quality Commission inspector Barry Stanley-Wilkinson, made the systemic nature of this failure even clearer. Mr Stanley-Wilkinson says he wrote a critical report of Whorlton Hall that was never published. The CQC says that report did not allege abuse. But it has apologised for failing to spot problems at Whorlton Hall, which it recently rated “good”.

The hospital, which was recently taken over by the US healthcare company Cygnet, now stands empty. Ten staff have been arrested and the criminal justice process must run its course. But any grim satisfaction in rooting out bad apples should be short-lived. What has been revealed over the past 10 days, in reports by children’s commissioner Anne Longfield, the CQC and academic researchers as well as by the BBC, goes beyond the actions of a callous few.

The underlying problem has three main aspects. The first is discrimination against learning-disabled and autistic people. Last week’s review of mortality rates, commissioned by the NHS, showed that women and men with learning disabilities die 27 and 23 years earlier than the general population, with researchers pointing to “bias in treatment” as an explanation.

Such bias of course intersects with other prejudices – as the variation in death rates between women and men suggests. Panorama provided further evidence of this, with shocking footage of male carers ganging up on a female patient known to be afraid of men, a form of misogynist bullying they described as “pressing the man button”.

The second aspect is the standard and status of work in the care sector. This question is far bigger than Whorlton Hall. The fact is that care – whether of autistic or disabled people, dementia sufferers or looked-after children – is undervalued. This does not excuse unkind or illegal behaviour. It does mean that many of the people employed in this area are underqualified, poorly motivated and unsuited to what must be recognised as demanding work.

The third aspect is structural and concerns commissioning and regulation. The squeeze on local authority budgets combined with the government’s failure to propose, let alone deliver, a policy on social care, has created unhealthy conditions. The commissioners who purchase care packages must be accountable. So must the CQC. But politicians too must take responsibility for the failure to follow through on commitments made following previous scandals. Health secretary Matt Hancock’s refusal to be interviewed about Whorlton Hall was a serious mistake.

Since 2011, the number of adults living in specialist hospitals has fallen from 3,400 to 2,300. But steep rises in the use of physical restraint, combined with warnings from Anne Longfield and others about “values and culture”, are alarming. If the government has rejected proposals for an independent commissioner for learning-disabled people, ministers must explain why – and what they plan to do instead.

We applaud your editorial (31 May) focusing on the abuse of learning-disabled people. We query the suggestion that the publication of three reports and the recent BBC Panorama documentary “shed much-needed light” on this mistreatment. We are at a loss as to how much more light can be shone on well-documented and sustained human rights abuses, deaths, dangerous restraint and practices that are endemic in institutions and enabled by the clearly deficient and failing processes of investigation, oversight and external scrutiny.

It is time to set aside the misted goggles that allow politicians, policymakers, regulators, commissioners and providers to somehow not see, hear or even reflect on the dehumanising and degrading treatment meted out to fellow citizens. This is about human rights and the duty to respect and protect rights, particularly of people incarcerated behind the closed walls of our institutions.
The unconscionable lack of political will and leadership to ensure action and systemic change can no longer be tolerated. This is about holding to account each and every one of us, particularly those we entrust to either directly look after people in these settings or to oversee such provision.

Re: BBC Panorama Whorlton Hall

Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2019 7:28 am

by Chris From The Gulag

They don't come much better than that one.

Re: BBC Panorama Whorlton Hall

Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2019 10:56 am

by Lizzie Carers UK

In case it's of any interest to you, Emily Holzhausen, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at Carers UK who was appointed as co-chair of the Care Support Alliance co-wrote this blog about what we should expect from our next Prime Minister in response to the Panorama investigation last week.

Re: BBC Panorama Whorlton Hall

Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2019 11:00 am

by Chris From The Gulag

Another voice to add to those with similar views over the past 15 years or so.

We see families buckling under the strain of caring, with support whittled away as services close due to budget cuts. And we are prompted to consider what it must be like working in this environment – forced to reconcile a commitment to acting in people’s best interests with options that are patently inadequate but all the council has the money to pay for.

2004 ... the very first wave of LA cutbacks.
Where were all those voices and concerns then ???

Monies ... not the sole issue.

The financing and management of social care ... under one roof within the NHS and funded through general taxation.